Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (HNR)

Harvest Natural Resources (NYSE:HNR) -20% premarket after announcing it has withdrawn its request for international arbitration proceedings against Venezuela over what it had considered the thwarting of its investments in the country.

HNR says it remains committed to protecting the value of its Venezuelan investment, but it cannot promptly pursue its claims without going through a process established in the shareholders' agreement with Petroandina or obtaining a waiver of that process.

Harvest Natural Resources (HNR+3%) says it will seek international arbitration against Venezuela, alleging the government has thwarted the development of the company's investment in the country as well as efforts to sell its interests there.

HNR has held interests in Venezuela for more than 20 years, and has tried to sell its 32% stake in Petrodelta to Pertamina of Indonesia and later to Pluspetrol Venezuela.

Harvest Natural Resources (HNR+4.5%) sets May 7 for a shareholder vote on the company's proposed sale of its 20.4% ownership stake in its Petrodelta joint venture with Venezuela's PDVSA to an affiliate of Argentina's Pluspetrol Resources.

Harvest Natural Resources (HNR-6.4%) sinks after Q4 earnings fall far short of Wall Street expectations, as it takes two charges related to the planned sale of assets to exit Venezuela.

HNR booked a $23M loss on the completed portion of the $400M sale of its 32% interest in the Petrodelta joint venture with Venezuela’s PDVSA to Argentina’s Pluspetrol, and recorded a $75M income tax expense which was partly related to the recording of any future tax liability.

The cash-strapped company warns that it is not sure when Venezuelan authorities would approve the sale of its assets in the country and its future liquidity depends heavily on completing the second part of the sale.

HNR says it is talking to potential buyers about its majority stake in a block off Gabon and exploration assets in Indonesia and China.

Harvest Natural Resources (HNR+16.5%) shares are rallying after a 2-day slide. The cash-strapped company announced after Wednesday's close that it had raised ~$5.4M by selling 1.7M shares.

Investors may be taking the fact that 6 insiders bought 246K of the shares as a positive sign for the company's chances of selling its assets. The company received a $400M proposal for its Venezuelan interests 2 weeks ago. With $76.8M in long-term debt as of Sept. 30, the company has an enterprise value of ~$234M.